Scenic cruising Sognefjord

Threading between the many small islands scattered across its entrance, your ship enters the King of Fjords. Winding 127 miles/205 km deep into the mountainous countryside, it is the largest and deepest of Norway’s fjords. After crossing a narrow sill of shallow water (330 ft/100 m) the bottom plunges to an average depth ten times as great. Its deepest point is 4,231 feet/1308 m below sea level, although a layer of silt blankets the fjord bottom to a depth of 660 feet/200m. The glacier-carved cliffs on either side rise another 3,300 ft/1000m, and at its furthest end, the fjord carves into a range of 6,600-ft/2000m peaks cradling the Jostedalsbreen, Europe’s largest glacier. Its average width is 2.8 miles/4.5 km. Waterfalls tinsel down the steep walls at intervals, sparkling in the endless summer sun. Here and there, a plucky little farm clings perilously to a narrow shelf either beside the water or unbelievably perched partway up the wall, looking like child’s toy against the scale of the peaks. It is a scene that brings to mind the sonorous call of a lur – the wooden horns sounded by Vikings in these majestic fjords.